I’ve spent more time over this past semester capturing many aspects of my life through photography, than I had during the entirety of my life prior. Until this January I had never had much of an interest in being photographed nor taking photos. However, I was inspired to capture so many aspects of my life using photography that I’ve grown to appreciate the power photos have to tell a story and capture memories. My first focus was just figuring out how to effectively use my phone as a camera beyond simply pressing a button. I wanted to understand the different options my iPhone allowed me to take photos with. I would come to greatly appreciate the portrait mode, which I utilized for several porjects.

I began my pursuit to understand photography by reviewing photos of myself from the past. This look back in time allowed me to better understand how photos could perfectly freeze a moment in time. This insight allowed me to better identify points in my everyday life that I would want to remember more vividly. When those moments presented themselves I was now more urgent to capture them with a photo. Begining with an examination of my campus student radio station, I noticed how frequently these moments worth capturing occured.

I’ve been a part of the campus student radio station for each of the past four years and always took for granted my time and experiences there. With my graduation upcoming it was important for me to capture the space our station utilizes, but more importantly the people who utilize that space with me. I’ve shared so many good experiences with these people and was encouraged to photograph them so that I would be able to look back on my time with WCBN for many years to come. The unique, and frankly dim, lighting presented some unique challenges, but it was important to me that this poor lighting was captured accurately because its how I will always remeber the station.

I then trasitioned on focusing on my life as a student at Michigan. I did this primarily by walking everywhere for a week. It was during this week that I focused my attention on capturing the normal aspects of my life. Everything from the sidewalks I used every day to the buildings throughout campus were my subjects. Ann Arbor is a special place and the University of Michigan campus is a big reason why. I made a point to focus not only on where I was walking, but also how my mood changed during my week without a car. Emotion is something I tried to capture during this project and by utilizing captions I was better able to articulate those emotions.

Capturing my journey during spring break allowed me to really test my awareness of what moments are worth capturing with photography. I traveled to three unique locations, each of which presented unique challenges. Shooting in snow while skiing in Wyoming was far and away the most difficult aspect of any project I worked on amongst these projects. The lighting was consistently inconsistent in Wyoming due to the constant visibility changes throughout the mountain. In addition, setting the proper focus on my iPhone with snow falling throught the frame proved to be much more difficult than I anticipated. While fishing in Idaho I found myself often to immersed in the activity to have the wherewithall to take photos. However, I enjoyed touching up my fishing photos on Photoshop because it allowed me to experiment with the removal or enhancement of so many different colors from the shrubbery to the water and sky. Finishing my journey project in Los Angeles allowed me to capture my work as a broadcaster in addition to the city my parents call home. I also utiized the captions for these photos to express my inner thoughts at the time of taking every photo. I tend to be much more literal than creative, but with these captions I think I found a happy-medium.

My favorite project I worked on was a series of portraits of my friend Dalton Potocki. Dalton was a great subject because of our familiarity and comfort with one another. It was fun to work with him and he was more than willing to meet with me on several different occasions so that I could take some new photos of him. I think our previous relationship certainly helped me understand what photos I wanted to take of him. I knew who he was as a person and I wanted photos that expressed his personality as much as his actions. It was difficult to capture his humor, which is rather dry, but I thought I managed to get photos that he would appreciate as genuinely him. It was very interesting to take so many photos of one person over a short period of time, but it also allowed me the most opportunity to be selective of the ultimate photos I chose to make public.

Overall, I would say my photography style, including editing, was minimalist in all phases. I did very little planning before each shoot and I found that many of my favorite photos were one’s captured on a whim. I also tried to minimize the amount of photoshopping I did on each photo, because I was worried that I might be tempted to distort some photos beyond recognition. Easy touchups were certainly made, but I tried to steer clear of too much color alteration. I feel as though I due my best work in bulk, however photography has forced me to be more patient in my production. So many aspects beyond my control like weather would force me to adjust what days I was shooting as well as where I would shoot. If I were to restart this whole process tomorrow I think the biggest piece of advice I would give to myself is to schedule out my shooting for each week. The last thing I would want to do is try to rush some photos just to complete a project. I think I managed to articulate how I work in the other aspects of my life through my photography in each one of these projects. I hope you enjoy them.

March 30, 2017

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Complementary Colors

This gallery contains 15 photos.

Darkness from which red, purple, orange and white pop Natural light washes out some brighter colors, but the furniture in this building blends with the darker blues even more. A rainbow of color emerges from the porcelain. Reddish pink amongst a sea of grey. The total absence of color highlights the white in her smile. […]

March 21, 2017

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Dalton Potocki

This gallery contains 10 photos.

March 7, 2017

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Thoughts of a Vacation

Early Riser Heaven and hell copy.jpg I don’t actually love fishing that much, but my dad does so I do it. Every Snapchat I sent would include a time stamp because I woke up early, which felt like an accomplishment worth sharing during Spring Break.

Really Big Fish Fish photo final.jpg I don’t eat fish, but I kept every one I caught. The size of the fish you catch is all luck, but the further you extend a fish from your body towards the camera, the bigger it looks.

What You Don’t SeeThe line you don’t see in this picture is really long. I rode this twice during my three days of skiing, but this is the photo I shared with my friends because it’s a Jackson Hole landmark.

Two in the Bush Bird in the Hand.jpg I’m a good skier, but more importantly, I want to show people I’m good at skiing so I took a picture of a difficult run I did. I was disappointed upon discovering how difficult capturing a ski run’s difficulty is.

Off Course Open sign.jpg The Boundaries are clearly marked at Jackson Hole and backcountry skiing is not discouraged. This was a difficult run, but nothing that would warrant this kind of warning. I’m not even sure this sign indicates difficulty, but I’m grasping to try and brag.

Knee DeepSkiing through heavy powder is easier than groomed runs when you get used to it. Most people don’t want to ski through trees so you can ski untouched snow later in the day when you go off course. This was a lot steeper than it looks, but I couldn’t capture that aspect.

Typical Los AngelesI understand the weather is great in Los Angeles. My parents live there and whenever I go to visit them this is all I experience. When you’re sitting inside a car the weather is the same in Michigan as is it in Los Angeles.

Hallowed GroundI had the opportunity to call Michigan’s baseball game at Dodger Stadium. I don’t particularly like baseball, but this was really cool. I, of course, didn’t get a single photo working the game with me actually in it.

Office SpaceEvery tweet I send with a photo of my work location for the day includes a caption along the lines of “Not a bad view” or “Office for the day.” This was both a good view and good office for the day. I forgot to tweet this photo.